Australian miner Nickel Industries has inked a deal to acquire the Sampala project, which consists of three highly prospective, advanced, contiguous nickel IUPs (mining licenses) covering the 6,654-hectare mine in Indonesia. The company has signed conditional share purchase agreements to acquire PT Erabaru Timur Lestari (ETL), PT Mandiri Jaya Nickel (MJN), and CV Gita Flora (GF).

Initial JORC 2012 compliant mineral resources totaling 187 million dry metric tonnes (dmt) of 1.2% nickel and 0.09% cobalt (2.3mt of contained nickel metal and 0.2mt of cobalt) have been estimated in 900ha of the prospective and mapped laterite area of 4,700ha. Only 20% of a total 4,700ha of prospective mapped laterite is drilled.

The IUPs are located in close proximity to the company's existing refining operations within the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) and the company's Hengjaya mine (HM). A majority of acquisition payments are expected in 2026, and the project development capex is currently expected to be similar to HM.

Nickel Industries managing director Justin Werner stated, "With an initial resource of 2.9mt of contained nickel metal in just 900ha explored and over 4,700ha of mapped prospective laterite, the opportunity to increase this resource substantially is significant.

" He expects the Sampala project to deliver similar economics to the firm's HM operation, which has seen Ebitda of $42 million for a quarter.

The initial Sampala project resource and HMs current resource of 3.7m contained nickel metal tonnes will increase the firm's total nickel resource inventory to an excess of 5mt of contained nickel metal.